Slowly Boiling the Frog

[gregcrawford]

This was originally a response to an OP written by my hero, The Rude Pundit. Niyad suggested I post it as an OP, so here it is, with some minor edits and additions.

Most have heard that if the temperature of the water in a beaker containing a live frog is raised ever so slowly, the frog never notices that it is being boiled alive. I think there are parallels to be drawn from our own experiences in recent years.

It is my belief that obscene abuses of power by psychotic thugs who should NEVER have been carrying badges and guns - like the unwarranted attack on a young black girl in a classroom - are part of a much larger pattern.

Travelers have become inured to, and grudgingly accept, the institutionalized abuses and invasions of privacy imposed at airports.

Even though Attorney General Eric Holder ordered the practice to be halted, cops still routinely rob drivers under the auspices of the despicable Civil Forfeiture law, supposedly enacted to target drug dealers, but in reality, used by corrupt police departments to augment their budgets. Cops rob people before they've even been charged with a crime, let alone been convicted of one. And good luck getting your money back.

Worst of all is the systematic abuse of authority inflicted on People of Color by a vicious and hopelessly corrupt legal system.

I could go on until the Intertubes break. But you get the idea.

And the pattern that emerges is one of an beaker of water, getting hotter by the minute, in which we are all immersed. Anyone with the brains of a potted plant knows that the government doesn't wipe its butt without asking its corporate overlords which hand to use. So too, is the government following the edicts of corporatists in gradually eliminating the civil rights of Americans and restricting their ability to travel and communicate without constant oversight.

And just to remind us all of what will happen should we even think of stepping out of line, cops routinely beat and murder innocent civilians, even children, because they know that corrupt prosecutors will never charge them. They target People of Color most often because the room-temperature IQs upon whom the cops depend for mindless support are nearly always bigoted wastes of skin who foolishly believe it can't happen to THEM!

But it is happening. With ever-increasing frequency and savagery.

The US already has the largest prison population on the planet. And that is NOT per capita. Corporate-controlled prisons impose contractual obligations on states for mandatory minimums for numbers of prisoners. If any given state hasn't railroaded enough people, they have to pay a penalty AND pay for the empty beds and maggot-infested food anyway.

Corporate prisons advertise the savings that companies can enjoy by using their captive workforce for piecework, call centers, or what have you. They pay prisoners little or nothing, but charge enormous fees that are still a bargain compared to the costs of employing free citizens. Hell, it's even cheaper than outsourcing the work to Mumbai. Every corporatist has wet dreams about slave labor, and they are lining up to take advantage of this offer.

The dots connect themselves. And our oblivious butts are getting warmer.

So... do we just sit there and boil? I think not.

Have a nice day.

[niyad]

1. k and r and thank you.

[2naSalit]

2. K&R

and right you are!

Thanks to both you and Niyad!

[MasonDreams]

3. Thanks for the post, you're not alone. Room temperature IQs, I love it!!

The nation was shocked to learn that National Guard troops had shot and killed 4 Ohio college students.
It was sooo long ago, those students were not in favor of the war in Vietnam.
I don't think the nation would be shocked by incidents much worse, much much worse than this.
Send lawyers guns & money!! we need assistance, call out, oh wait, don't call out the National Guard.

[gregcrawford]

4. As I recall, a couple of them weren't even protesting; they were on their way to class.

Don't know if any musicians have the cojones to release a song like CSN&Y's "Four Dead In Ohio" these days.

[MasonDreams]

5. I think a remake and/or update of Steppenwolf's Monster or Grand Funk's Creepin'

Needs to happen!

[gregcrawford]

6. HA! Now I have old Steppenwolf tunes rattlin' around brainpan!

I'm sure Hermann Hesse never thought he'd inspire a rock band in the Age of Acid!

[MasonDreams]

9. Alas, H. Hesse's days were before the emergence of lysergence.

But he did know Carl Jung. For The Glass Bead Game and Siddhartha I am eternally Grateful. Don't step on the grass Sam.

[gregcrawford]

10. If Hesse had been born a bit later...

... I'll bet he would have enjoyed a bit of blotter from time to time, and rocked to "Born to be Wild" and "The Pusher!" I hope he wouldn't have been one of those pretentious twits given to obfuscating a philosophical discussion with hyper-polysyllabic sesquepedalianism and holding his cigarette like a Russian.

"The Glass Bead Game" was an especially dense read, which could have been attributable, at least in part, to the translation. I read it 4+ decades ago.

For a more recent challenging read wherein every comma is fraught with significance, try Robert Persig's "Lila," subtitled, "An Inquiry into Morals," or something close to that; it's been a few years since I read it. You'll recall, I'm sure, that Persig also wrote "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."

[MasonDreams]

12. I read those Hesse books around the same time. 40yrs back, as a seeker.

I have no need to obfuscate, in order to appear smart or educated. I'm not even shooting for "holier than thou"
I'm just a frog in the soup. goddamn goddamn the soups getting hotter! Like a true natures child,
I shall not cease my exploration. Soon I shall return home, and see it as if for the first time. Sorry, Mr. T. S. Elliot
I did revisit the Lucy Sky when I saw Jill Bolte Taylor's ted talk A Stroke of insight. Diamonds of wisdom in a compact package.
Half the brain is here and now, and interconnected!! Just amazing the times we live in, Physics, Neroscience, and HH Dali Lama
Singing the same song! fire all of your guns at once!

[gregcrawford]

13. ... and explode into space!

hard to believe those guys started out calling themselves the Sparrows!

[RancidCrabtree]

7. Don't forget Quicksilver Messenger Service's

What About Me

Still rings true today

[F4lconF16]

8. K&R

They target People of Color most often because the room-temperature IQs upon whom the cops depend for mindless support are nearly always bigoted wastes of skin who foolishly believe it can't happen to THEM!

My only disagreement is that I think cops target PoC for much more than simple racism. There has been a coordinated effort among white power centers and a monied elite to create a colorblind racial control system. It has evolved on its own, as racism and bigotry always will, but it has been sped up, helped along, directed, and in part created by those people.

My favorite example of this is the utter decimation of the 14th amendment by the Supreme Court, blocking virtually any challenge to the structual and colorblind racism found in vitually every aspect of our legal system. There's a reason the incredibly and blindingly racist death penalty has yet to be abolished through challenges based on racial discrimination.

Point is, it's very much intentional. Racist cops are racist fuckwads, yes, but it's also part of their function as the physical control arm of the state. They are enabled to intimidate, jail, and kill with impunity.

Edit: whoops, reread. You said something totally different, my apologies!